Identifying recurring sequences of user interactions with an application

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are database systems, computing devices, methods, and computer program products for identifying recurring sequences of user interactions with an application. In some implementations, a server of a database system provides a user interface of the application for display at a computing device. The database system stores data objects identifying a first plurality of user interactions with the application. The server receives information representing a second plurality of user interactions with the application. The server updates the database system to further identify the second user interactions. The server identifies a recurring sequence of user interactions from the first and second user interactions as resulting in a first target state of the application. The server updates the database system to associate the recurring sequence of user interactions with the first target state of the application.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

An Application Data Sheet is filed concurrently with this specificationas part of the present application. Each application that the presentapplication claims benefit of or priority to as identified in theconcurrently filed Application Data Sheet is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety and for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent document relates generally to providing services in anon-demand services environment using a database system and, morespecifically, to techniques for identifying recurring sequences of userinteractions with an application.

BACKGROUND

“Cloud computing” services provide shared resources, software, andinformation to computers and other devices upon request. In cloudcomputing environments, software can be accessible over the Internetrather than installed locally on in-house computer systems. Cloudcomputing typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamicallyscalable and often virtualized resources. Technological details can beabstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, orcontrol over, the technology infrastructure “in the cloud” that supportsthem.

Database resources can be provided in a cloud computing context.However, using conventional database management techniques, it isdifficult to know about the activity of other users of a database systemin the cloud or other network. For example, the actions of a particularuser, such as a salesperson, on a database resource may be important tothe user's boss. The user can create a report about what the user hasdone and send it to the boss, but such reports may be inefficient, nottimely, and incomplete. Also, it may be difficult to identify otherusers who might benefit from the information in the report.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only toprovide examples of possible structures and operations for the disclosedinventive systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products foridentifying recurring sequences of user interactions with anapplication. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form anddetail that may be made by one skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the disclosed implementations.

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 100 for identifyingrecurring sequences of user interactions with an application, performedin accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 240 for identifyingrecurring sequences of user interactions, performed in accordance withsome implementations.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 370 for providing fordisplay an update to a user interface, performed in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a navigation user interface 400 of a mobileapplication, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a search interface 500 of a mobileapplication, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an account information interface 600 of amobile application, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 7 shows an example of an opportunity report user interface 700 of amobile application, in accordance with some implementations.

FIG. 8A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service can be used in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 8B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 8A and various possible interconnections between theseelements.

FIG. 9A shows a system diagram of an example of architectural componentsof an on-demand database service environment 900, in accordance withsome implementations.

FIG. 9B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,in accordance with some implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Examples of systems, apparatus, methods and computer-readable storagemedia according to the disclosed implementations are described in thissection. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aidin the understanding of the disclosed implementations. It will thus beapparent to one skilled in the art that implementations may be practicedwithout some or all of these specific details. In other instances,certain operations have not been described in detail to avoidunnecessarily obscuring implementations. Other applications arepossible, such that the following examples should not be taken asdefinitive or limiting either in scope or setting.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in whichare shown, by way of illustration, specific implementations. Althoughthese implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable oneskilled in the art to practice the disclosed implementations, it isunderstood that these examples are not limiting, such that otherimplementations may be used and changes may be made without departingfrom their spirit and scope. For example, the operations of methodsshown and described herein are not necessarily performed in the orderindicated. It should also be understood that the methods may includemore or fewer operations than are indicated. In some implementations,operations described herein as separate operations may be combined.Conversely, what may be described herein as a single operation may beimplemented in multiple operations.

Some implementations of the disclosed systems, apparatus, methods andcomputer program products relate to identifying recurring sequences ofuser interactions with an application and generating shortcuts for theidentified recurring sequences. Any number of user selections and othertypes of user input are often required to navigate conventional userinterfaces of conventional applications to access frequently usedfeatures. Many conventional user interfaces and applications are notable to be configured or reconfigured to adapt to patterns of input byindividual users. Thus, users are left to waste time and energy tappingor clicking the same sequence of user input or otherwise navigatingthrough the same sequence of steps in a flow every time the user wishesto access or interact with a given feature of the application.

Some of the disclosed implementations provide adaptive navigation toimprove the accessibility of frequently used features of the applicationand eliminate wasteful clicks or interactions. For example, when a userrepeats the same click path or other sequence of interactions with theapplication a designated number of times (e.g., 5 times) in a row, or inmost cases (e.g., 8 out of 10 times), the application may be programmedto make the destination of that click path a “hot target” or a “targetstate” of the application that may be directly accessible upondisplaying the user interface. In some implementations, the target stateof the application can be a feature as described above such as acomputing event or combination of events, a service or combination ofservices, a designated user interface, a scroll position or zoom levelof a user interface, or some combination thereof. For example, a link tothe target state of the application may be displayed in a navigationsidebar or a dashboard of the application for quick access upon openingthe application. Thus, for instance, with a single tap or click of thelink, the user can access a feature of the application rather thanmaking multiple selections otherwise needed to access the feature.

As an example, a user may tap three user interface elements in seriessuch as “Search,” then “Task,” then “My Tasks” five times in a row afteropening an application on a mobile device (“app”). This recurringsequence of interactions (or recurring click path) may be detected bythe mobile device or by a server hosting the app. As a result of thedetection, “My Tasks” may be identified as a target state of the app,and a “My Tasks” link may be added to a main navigation user interface.In touch environments, such a link may be removed by using a designatedgesture, such as the tap-hold gesture, which surfaces an ‘X’ or deleteicon on the user interface. A user may then remove the link by selectingthe ‘X’ or delete icon. In some implementations, target statesidentified by links may be modified as well by using a designatedgesture and adding one or more interactions to the sequence representedby the link.

By way of illustration, an administrator or developer may set one ormore thresholds for adaptive navigation, causing a link for a targetstate to be automatically generated based on a number of recurring clickpaths meeting or exceeding a threshold. One or a combination ofparameters can specify such a threshold, such as a minimum number ofoccurrences of the recurring click path and/or a designated timeframewithin which the recurring click path occurs. In some implementations,the viewing user of the application may enter user input to toggle thecapability of automatically generating links to hot targets and mayconfigure thresholds through a user interface. In some implementations,hot targets may be auto-generated based on default thresholds, that is,without being configured by user input.

In some implementations, analyzing how users interact with anapplication and identifying recurring sequences of interactions withinan application may provide insight into the usability of theapplication. For example, if the most frequently accessed states of theapplication require many steps to access, this may be an indication thatthe application has low usability and that a user may experiencesignificant friction trying to use the application. With thisinformation, an administrator and/or developer of the application mayreconfigure the states and navigation to optimize the user experience ofthe application.

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 100 for identifyingrecurring sequences of user interactions with an application, performedin accordance with some implementations. In FIG. 1, at block 110, a userinterface of an application is provided for display at a user'scomputing device. In some implementations, a server of a database systemhosting the application sends data to the computing device, where thedata is processed to generate and display the user interface, forinstance, using a browser program installed on the computing device. Insome other implementations, the application is hosted at the user'scomputing device. In some implementations, the application may be a webapplication hosted by a server, while in other implementations, theapplication may be a mobile application (“app”) running locally on theuser's computing device. In some other implementations, the applicationmay be a desktop application running on a laptop or desktop computer.

Non-limiting examples of the user's computing device include atouchscreen-equipped device such as a smartphone or tablet, a wearabledevice, a laptop computer, or a desktop computer. The computing devicemay be configured to receive input via a finger or stylus contacting atouchscreen of the computing device. In some implementations, thecomputing device may receive input via an input device, such as a mouseor a keyboard. In other implementations, the computing device mayreceive input via a gesture or a motion, or a voice command.

In some implementations, the database system stores data objects thatidentify a first set of user interactions with the application. The userinteractions stored in the database system may identify some or all of auser's interactions with the application over a period of time. As anexample, the database system may store every interaction that the userperforms with the application. Examples of user interactions with theapplication may include selecting a link in the user interface of theapplication, completing a field, one or more keystrokes, one or moremouse gestures, one or more finger or hand gestures, a change in thescroll position for the user interface, or a change in a zoom level forthe user interface. Another example of a user interaction may besubmitting a request to, for example, perform a search, open a record,open a file, and the like.

In FIG. 1, at block 120, the server receives, via the user interface ofthe application, information representing a second set of userinteractions with the application. By way of example, as the userinteracts with the application, the computing device may transmit theuser's interactions with the application to a server. The server may usethese transmitted user interactions along with the previously storeduser interactions to determine whether there has been a recurringsequence of user interactions for the user. In FIG. 1, at block 130, theserver updates the database to store the second user interactions. Thesecond user interactions may be stored in the database as one or moredata objects of the database. In FIG. 1, at block 140, the serveridentifies a recurring sequence of user interactions based on theinteractions stored in the database. The interactions stored in thedatabase may include the user interactions that were previously stored,as well as the user interactions that were provided in blocks 120 and130.

The identified recurring sequence of user interactions may result in afirst target state for the application. In some implementations, thefirst target state of the application may be defined by an associateduniform resource locator (URL). In other implementations, the firsttarget state may be further defined by a scroll position for the userinterface, or a zoom level for the user interface. As an example, atarget state for the application may be a record detail page for aparticular record that may be displayed in the application. If therecord detail display spans multiple pages in the user interface, thetarget state may also include a particular page for the record detaildisplay. Alternatively, the target state may be a list of one or morerelated records, such as customer relationship management (CRM) records.For instance, the target state may list the cases related to aparticular account. If a user regularly looks up the list of casesrelated to the account, the displayed list may be a target state for theapplication.

As another example, the target state for the application may identify aparticular file stored in a database of the database system. The targetstate could also include a particular scroll position or a zoom levelfor the file. For example, if the file includes multiple pages that maybe scrolled through in the user interface, the target state couldinclude a particular page of the file that the user scrolled to in theuser interface. The target state could also include the zoom level atwhich the user was viewing the page of the file.

In another example, the target state for the application may include thesearch results for a particular search. For example, a user may beinterested in whether another user has posted about some particularwords in his information feed. The user may, whenever he logs in to hisfeed application, perform a search based on the particular words, andlook through the results. If the system detects that this user does thisevery day, a shortcut could be provided to the user to perform thatsearch in one click.

In some implementations, the target state of the application may includeany state that may be reached through one or more user interactions withthe application, such as a series of selections or searches. As anexample, a user of a customer relationship management (CRM) system mayfrequently, upon opening a CRM application, search for a particularaccount, like Acme Inc., and view the list of opportunities associatedwith that particular account. Each time, the user may need to open up anaccount search page, enter “Acme” in the search field, select Acme Inc.from the resulting search results, and clicking on a link to display theopportunities for Acme Inc. This list of actions may be the recurringsequence user interactions that results in the target state, which isthe list of opportunities associated with the Acme account.

FIGS. 4-7 provide examples of recurring sequences of user interactionsresulting in various target states. FIG. 4 shows an example of anavigation user interface 400 of a mobile application, in accordancewith some implementations. The navigation user interface 400 allows auser of the mobile application to access various states of theapplication. When a user opens up the mobile application, theapplication may initially provide for display the navigation userinterface 400. The navigation user interface 400 includes links 420,422, 424 to the user's feed, to a list of people associated with theuser, and to a list of groups associated with the user. The navigationuser interface 400 also includes links 430, 432, 434 to accounts, leads,and opportunities that have been recently viewed by the user. Selectingthe Accounts link 430 may lead the user to a user interface thatdisplays the accounts that the user has most recently interacted with aswell as a search field to search for a particular account. Thenavigation user interface 400 includes target state links 440 and 442,which refer to target states for recurring sequences of userinteractions. The navigation user interface 400 may also include asearch field 410 for searching the database system of the application.

The “Acme Account” target state link 440 may lead the user directly tothe Acme account details page. The “Acme Opps Report” target state link442 may lead the user directly to an Opportunities Report for the Acmeaccount. These target state links 440, 442 may have been previouslycreated based on the user accessing the Acme account detail page and theOpportunities Report frequently. FIGS. 5-7 describe how these targetstates may have been identified based on the user's interactions withthe application.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a search interface 500 of a mobileapplication, in accordance with some implementations. Selecting therecent accounts link 430 of FIG. 4 may cause the account searchinterface 500 to be displayed on the computing device. The accountsearch interface 500 may include a search field 510 for searching thedatabase system for a particular account. The account search interface500 also includes a “My Accounts” link 520 for a user to view all of theaccounts he is associated with. In this example, the user may search forthe Acme account by typing the term “Acme” in the search field 510 ofthe search interface 500.

FIG. 6 shows an example of an account information interface 600 of amobile application, in accordance with some implementations. The accountinformation interface 600 may include various details for the Acmeaccount record. At this point, a server of the database system maydetermine that the user has performed the preceding sequence of userinteractions arriving at this target state multiple times within adesignated time frame. For example, the user may frequently perform thesteps of searching for the Acme account record and selecting the Acmeaccount for display in the user interface. The server may determine thatthe user has previously performed this sequence of steps a number oftimes.

In some implementations, the user may automatically identify thissequence of user interactions as a recurring sequence of userinteractions resulting in a target state. In other implementations, theuser may be presented with a prompt indicating that the user hasperformed this series of steps multiple times and asking if the userwould like to identify the target state for the recurring sequence ofuser interactions in, for example, the navigation user interface of theapplication, as depicted in FIG. 4. Responding to the promptaffirmatively may cause the “Acme Account” link 440 of FIG. 4 to bedisplayed in the navigation user interface 400. Subsequently selectingthe link 440 may lead the user directly to the Acme account informationpage 600 of FIG. 6.

As another example, the user viewing the Acme account information page600 may navigate from this page to an opportunity report associated withthe Acme account. FIG. 7 shows an example of an opportunity report userinterface 700 of a mobile application, in accordance with someimplementations. The opportunity report user interface 700 may displaythe set of opportunities that is associated with the Acme account ingraphical 710 and tabular 720 form. It may be determined that the userhas also performed the series of steps leading up to this user interfacemultiple times in the past: searching for the Acme account, selectingthe Acme account, and opening the opportunity report. The opportunityreport may then be identified as a target state for the recurringsequence of user interactions leading up to the opportunity report userinterface 700. If the user has previously also scrolled down the tabularform 720 of the opportunity report to a particular opportunity, thescroll position may also be included in the target state for therecurring sequence of user interactions. The “Acme Opps Report” link 442of FIG. 4 may be generated in response to identifying this recurringsequence of user interactions, and subsequently selecting the link 442may lead the user directly to the opportunity report interface 700displaying the interface at the scroll position provided by the user.

Returning to FIG. 1, at block 160, the server updates at least one ofthe data objects stored in the at least one database to associate therecurring sequence of user interactions with the first target state ofthe application. When a recurring sequence of user interactions isidentified and associated with a first target state, the recurringsequence and the first target state may be stored in the databasesystem.

In some implementations, a first user may be associated with a first setof target states corresponding to recurring sequences of userinteractions performed by the first user in the application. Thedatabase system may also store a second set of target states for asecond user corresponding to recurring sequences of user interactionsperformed by the second user in the application. Similarly, the databasesystem may store multiple sets of target states corresponding todifferent users of the application. In FIG. 1, at block 170, the serverprovides for display an update to the user interface, as discussedfurther below in block 370 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 240 for identifyingrecurring sequences of user interactions, performed in accordance withsome implementations.

In FIG. 2, at block 242, the server performing method 240 identifies anumber of occurrences of the recurring sequence of user interactions.For example, the server may determine, based on the stored userinteractions, that a particular sequence of user interactions hasoccurred five times.

In FIG. 2, at block 244, the server performing method 240 determinesthat the number of occurrences for the recurring sequence of userinteractions meets or exceeds a designated minimum number ofoccurrences. For example, the designated minimum number of occurrencesmay be three occurrences. This number may be determined by anadministrator of the system or by the user of the application. Thisnumber may be utilized to determine what sequence lengths and associatedtarget states should be identified by the server for potential inclusionin the navigation user interface. If the number is relatively low, thenmany relatively infrequent sequences could potentially be identifiedthat would not enhance the user's navigation of the application. If thenumber is relatively high, then potentially very few sequences may beidentified.

In FIG. 2, at block 246, the server performing method 240 determinesthat each occurrence of the recurring sequence of user interactionsoccurs within a designated timeframe. In the example of FIGS. 4-7, thesequence of interactions—searching for the Acme account, selecting theAcme account, opening the opportunity report, and scrolling to thescroll position in the opportunity list—would all need to occur within atimeframe of particular length, for example, one minute. The user may bemore interested in series of interactions that are performed quickly,suggesting that the intervening states are not of particular interest tothe user. In that case, the user may designate a shorter timeframe foreach occurrence of the recurring sequence of interactions. In somecases, the user may designate a longer timeframe in order to identifymore recurring sequences that may be occurring over longer periods oftime.

In FIG. 2, at block 248, the server performing method 240 determinesthat the number of occurrences of the recurring sequence of userinteractions occurs within a designated timeframe, which may bedetermined by an administrator or by the user of the application. Forexample, the user may be interested only in recurring sequences of userinteractions that he has performed recently and may perform again in thenear future. As such, a shorter timeframe would exclude older, andpotentially less relevant to the user, user interactions. A shortertimeframe may also provide efficiency benefits in that a smaller corpusof user interactions would need to be analyzed to identify recurringsequences of user interactions.

In FIG. 2, at block 250, the server performing method 240 determinesthat the recurring sequence of user interactions comprises a designatedminimum number of user interactions. The designated minimum sequencelength may be determined by the user of the application. Selecting ashorter minimum sequence length may result in many short sequences beingidentified. Selecting a longer minimum sequence length may cause onlylonger recurring sequences to be identified.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a method 370 for providing fordisplay an update to a user interface, performed in accordance with someimplementations. In FIG. 3, at block 372, the server performing method370 provides for display in the user interface a prompt to display auser interface element associated with the first target state of theapplication in the user interface. In some implementations, when thesystem identifies a recurring sequence of user interactions resulting ina target state, the application may notify the user of this recurringsequence and target state and ask the user if he would like to create ashortcut to the target state in a navigation bar of the application. Theprompt may be displayed in the form of a popup in the application, adialog box, or an indicator in the user interface that, when selected,displays the prompt.

In FIG. 3, at block 374, the server performing method 370 receives arequest to display the user interface element. The user may respondaffirmatively to the prompt to send the request to the server to displaya user interface element in the navigation user interface.

In FIG. 3, at block 376, the server performing method 370 generates anupdate to the user interface for displaying the first target state. Insome implementations, the update may be in the form of a user interfaceelement provided for display in a navigation user interface component ofthe user interface.

In some implementations, the navigation user interface component mayappear in a mobile application as illustrated in FIG. 4. In otherimplementations, the navigation component may appear in a dropdown menuor other interface component of the application. In a web application,the navigation component may appear in a sidebar or a tab of the userinterface. In some implementations, the navigation component may alsoappear in a dashboard user interface for the application.

In FIG. 3, at block 380, the server performing method 370 receives aselection of the user interface element. The user viewing the navigationcomponent may select the user interface element to navigate directly tothe target state associated with the user interface element.

In FIG. 3, at block 382, the server performing method 370 provides fordisplay in the user interface the first target state of the application.In the example of FIG. 4, the user may select the “Acme Account” link440 to navigate directly to the Acme Account details page 600 of FIG. 6.

In FIG. 3, at block 390, the server performing method 370 receives arequest to edit the first target state. The request may comprise anupdate to the recurring sequence of user interactions. As an example,returning to FIG. 4, the user may want to update the target state forthe “Acme Opps Report” link 442 to include a particular scroll positionwithin the report. Right-clicking or long-pressing the link 442 maycause some options to be displayed in the user interface, one of whichmay be to edit the target state for the link 442. In response to therequest to edit the target state, the user interface may display thecurrent target state of the user interface and allow the user to add oneor more user interactions to the sequence. The user may then send arequest to save the new sequence of user interactions and associate thenew target state with the link 442.

In FIG. 3, at block 392, the server performing method 370 updates thefirst target state in accordance with the request to edit the firsttarget state. In some implementations, the updated target state andassociated sequence of user interactions may be stored in a database ofthe database system.

In some implementations, the server may determine, based on the one ormore recurring sequences of user interactions, a usability level for theapplication. For example, an application in which most actions performedby a user require many user interactions to reach a target state may bedetermined to have a low usability level. An application with a highusability level would have a user's most common navigation destinationsjust a few user interactions away. Analyzing one or more users'interactions with an application and identifying recurring sequences ofuser interactions, and in particular, the lengths of those recurringsequences, may help determine the usability of the application. This mayallow an administrator of the system to reconfigure the application tomake the paths to the frequently visited target states require feweruser interactions.

Systems, apparatus, and methods are described below for implementingdatabase systems and enterprise level social and business informationnetworking systems in conjunction with the disclosed techniques. Suchimplementations can provide more efficient use of a database system. Forinstance, a user of a database system may not easily know when importantinformation in the database has changed, e.g., about a project orclient. Such implementations can provide feed tracked updates about suchchanges and other events, thereby keeping users informed.

By way of example, a user can update a record in the form of a CRMobject, e.g., an opportunity such as a possible sale of 1000 computers.Once the record update has been made, a feed tracked update about therecord update can then automatically be provided, e.g., in a feed, toanyone subscribing to the opportunity or to the user. Thus, the userdoes not need to contact a manager regarding the change in theopportunity, since the feed tracked update about the update is sent viaa feed to the manager's feed page or other page.

FIG. 8A shows a block diagram of an example of an environment 10 inwhich an on-demand database service exists and can be used in accordancewith some implementations. Environment 10 may include user systems 12,network 14, database system 16, processor system 17, applicationplatform 18, network interface 20, tenant data storage 22, system datastorage 24, program code 26, and process space 28. In otherimplementations, environment 10 may not have all of these componentsand/or may have other components instead of, or in addition to, thoselisted above.

A user system 12 may be implemented as any computing device(s) or otherdata processing apparatus such as a machine or system used by a user toaccess a database system 16. For example, any of user systems 12 can bea handheld and/or portable computing device such as a mobile phone, asmartphone, a laptop computer, or a tablet. Other examples of a usersystem include computing devices such as a work station and/or a networkof computing devices. As illustrated in FIG. 8A (and in more detail inFIG. 8B) user systems 12 might interact via a network 14 with anon-demand database service, which is implemented in the example of FIG.8A as database system 16.

An on-demand database service, implemented using system 16 by way ofexample, is a service that is made available to users who do not need tonecessarily be concerned with building and/or maintaining the databasesystem. Instead, the database system may be available for their use whenthe users need the database system, i.e., on the demand of the users.Some on-demand database services may store information from one or moretenants into tables of a common database image to form a multi-tenantdatabase system (MTS). A database image may include one or more databaseobjects. A relational database management system (RDBMS) or theequivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information against thedatabase object(s). Application platform 18 may be a framework thatallows the applications of system 16 to run, such as the hardware and/orsoftware, e.g., the operating system. In some implementations,application platform 18 enables creation, managing and executing one ormore applications developed by the provider of the on-demand databaseservice, users accessing the on-demand database service via user systems12, or third party application developers accessing the on-demanddatabase service via user systems 12.

The users of user systems 12 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 12 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, when a salesperson is using a particular user system 12 tointeract with system 16, the user system has the capacities allotted tothat salesperson. However, while an administrator is using that usersystem to interact with system 16, that user system has the capacitiesallotted to that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical rolemodel, users at one permission level may have access to applications,data, and database information accessible by a lower permission leveluser, but may not have access to certain applications, databaseinformation, and data accessible by a user at a higher permission level.Thus, different users will have different capabilities with regard toaccessing and modifying application and database information, dependingon a user's security or permission level, also called authorization.

Network 14 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 14 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. Network 14 can include a TCP/IP (Transfer ControlProtocol and Internet Protocol) network, such as the global internetworkof networks often referred to as the Internet. The Internet will be usedin many of the examples herein. However, it should be understood thatthe networks that the present implementations might use are not solimited.

User systems 12 might communicate with system 16 using TCP/IP and, at ahigher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 12 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a “browser” for sending and receiving HTTP signals to and from anHTTP server at system 16. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface 20 between system 16 and network 14, butother techniques might be used as well or instead. In someimplementations, the network interface 20 between system 16 and network14 includes load sharing functionality, such as round-robin HTTP requestdistributors to balance loads and distribute incoming HTTP requestsevenly over a number of servers. At least for users accessing system 16,each of the servers has access to the MTS' data; however, otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In one implementation, system 16, shown in FIG. 8A, implements aweb-based CRM system. For example, in one implementation, system 16includes application servers configured to implement and execute CRMsoftware applications as well as provide related data, code, forms, webpages and other information to and from user systems 12 and to store to,and retrieve from, a database system related data, objects, and Webpagecontent. With a multi-tenant system, data for multiple tenants may bestored in the same physical database object in tenant data storage 22,however, tenant data typically is arranged in the storage medium(s) oftenant data storage 22 so that data of one tenant is kept logicallyseparate from that of other tenants so that one tenant does not haveaccess to another tenant's data, unless such data is expressly shared.In certain implementations, system 16 implements applications otherthan, or in addition to, a CRM application. For example, system 16 mayprovide tenant access to multiple hosted (standard and custom)applications, including a CRM application. User (or third partydeveloper) applications, which may or may not include CRM, may besupported by the application platform 18, which manages creation,storage of the applications into one or more database objects andexecuting of the applications in a virtual machine in the process spaceof the system 16.

One arrangement for elements of system 16 is shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B,including a network interface 20, application platform 18, tenant datastorage 22 for tenant data 23, system data storage 24 for system data 25accessible to system 16 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 26for implementing various functions of system 16, and a process space 28for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes, suchas running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 16 include databaseindexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 8A include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 12 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. The term “computing device” is also referred to hereinsimply as a “computer”. User system 12 typically runs an HTTP client,e.g., a browsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 12 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 16 over network 14. Each usersystem 12 also typically includes one or more user input devices, suchas a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen or thelike, for interacting with a GUI provided by the browser on a display(e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, OLED display, etc.) of thecomputing device in conjunction with pages, forms, applications andother information provided by system 16 or other systems or servers.Thus, “display device” as used herein can refer to a display of acomputer system such as a monitor or touch-screen display, and can referto any computing device having display capabilities such as a desktopcomputer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, a television set-top box, orwearable device such Google Glass® or other human body-mounted displayapparatus. For example, the display device can be used to access dataand applications hosted by system 16, and to perform searches on storeddata, and otherwise allow a user to interact with various GUI pages thatmay be presented to a user. As discussed above, implementations aresuitable for use with the Internet, although other networks can be usedinstead of or in addition to the Internet, such as an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network,any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one implementation, each user system 12 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium® processor or the like. Similarly, system 16(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of its components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using processor system 17,which may be implemented to include a central processing unit, which mayinclude an Intel Pentium® processor or the like, and/or multipleprocessor units. Non-transitory computer-readable media can haveinstructions stored thereon/in, that can be executed by or used toprogram a computing device to perform any of the methods of theimplementations described herein. Computer program code 26 implementinginstructions for operating and configuring system 16 to intercommunicateand to process web pages, applications and other data and media contentas described herein is preferably downloadable and stored on a harddisk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof, may also bestored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory medium or device asis well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on any media capable ofstoring program code, such as any type of rotating media includingfloppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk (DVD), compact disk(CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, and magnetic or opticalcards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs), or any other typeof computer-readable medium or device suitable for storing instructionsand/or data. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof,may be transmitted and downloaded from a software source over atransmission medium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, asis well known, or transmitted over any other conventional networkconnection as is well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using anycommunication medium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet,etc.) as are well known. It will also be appreciated that computer codefor the disclosed implementations can be realized in any programminglanguage that can be executed on a client system and/or server or serversystem such as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language,Java™, JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such asVBScript, and many other programming languages as are well known may beused. (Java™ is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

According to some implementations, each system 16 is configured toprovide web pages, forms, applications, data and media content to user(client) systems 12 to support the access by user systems 12 as tenantsof system 16. As such, system 16 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term “server” is meant to referto one type of computing device such as a system including processinghardware and process space(s), an associated storage medium such as amemory device or database, and, in some instances, a databaseapplication (e.g., OODBMS or RDBMS) as is well known in the art. Itshould also be understood that “server system” and “server” are oftenused interchangeably herein. Similarly, the database objects describedherein can be implemented as single databases, a distributed database, acollection of distributed databases, a database with redundant online oroffline backups or other redundancies, etc., and might include adistributed database or storage network and associated processingintelligence.

FIG. 8B shows a block diagram of an example of some implementations ofelements of FIG. 8A and various possible interconnections between theseelements. That is, FIG. 8B also illustrates environment 10. However, inFIG. 8B elements of system 16 and various interconnections in someimplementations are further illustrated. FIG. 8B shows that user system12 may include processor system 12A, memory system 12B, input system12C, and output system 12D. FIG. 8B shows network 14 and system 16. FIG.8B also shows that system 16 may include tenant data storage 22, tenantdata 23, system data storage 24, system data 25, User Interface (UI) 30,Application Program Interface (API) 32, PL/SOQL 34, save routines 36,application setup mechanism 38, application servers 50 ₁-50 _(N), systemprocess space 52, tenant process spaces 54, tenant management processspace 60, tenant storage space 62, user storage 64, and applicationmetadata 66. In other implementations, environment 10 may not have thesame elements as those listed above and/or may have other elementsinstead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 12, network 14, system 16, tenant data storage 22, andsystem data storage 24 were discussed above in FIG. 8A. Regarding usersystem 12, processor system 12A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 12B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 12Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 12D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 8B, system 16 may include a network interface 20 (of FIG. 8A)implemented as a set of application servers 50, an application platform18, tenant data storage 22, and system data storage 24. Also shown issystem process space 52, including individual tenant process spaces 54and a tenant management process space 60. Each application server 50 maybe configured to communicate with tenant data storage 22 and the tenantdata 23 therein, and system data storage 24 and the system data 25therein to serve requests of user systems 12. The tenant data 23 mightbe divided into individual tenant storage spaces 62, which can be eithera physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within eachtenant storage space 62, user storage 64 and application metadata 66might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of auser's most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage64. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage space 62. A UI 30 provides auser interface and an API 32 provides an application programmerinterface to system 16 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 12. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as one or more Oracle® databases.

Application platform 18 includes an application setup mechanism 38 thatsupports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage 22by save routines 36 for execution by subscribers as one or more tenantprocess spaces 54 managed by tenant management process 60 for example.Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 34 thatprovides a programming language style interface extension to API 32. Adetailed description of some PL/SOQL language implementations isdiscussed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,478, titled METHODAND SYSTEM FOR ALLOWING ACCESS TO DEVELOPED APPLICATIONS VIA AMULTI-TENANT ON-DEMAND DATABASE SERVICE, by Craig Weissman, issued onJun. 1, 2010, and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety andfor all purposes. Invocations to applications may be detected by one ormore system processes, which manage retrieving application metadata 66for the subscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata asan application in a virtual machine.

Each application server 50 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 25 and tenant data 23, via adifferent network connection. For example, one application server 50 ₁might be coupled via the network 14 (e.g., the Internet), anotherapplication server 50 _(N−1) might be coupled via a direct network link,and another application server 50 _(N) might be coupled by yet adifferent network connection. Transfer Control Protocol and InternetProtocol (TCP/IP) are typical protocols for communicating betweenapplication servers 50 and the database system. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that other transport protocols may beused to optimize the system depending on the network interconnect used.

In certain implementations, each application server 50 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 50. In one implementation, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 50 and the user systems 12 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 50. In one implementation, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 50. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain implementations, three consecutive requests from the same usercould hit three different application servers 50, and three requestsfrom different users could hit the same application server 50. In thismanner, by way of example, system 16 is multi-tenant, wherein system 16handles storage of, and access to, different objects, data andapplications across disparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 16 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 22). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 16 that are allocated atthe tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant-specific data, system 16 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain implementations, user systems 12 (which may be clientsystems) communicate with application servers 50 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 16 that may involvesending one or more queries to tenant data storage 22 and/or system datastorage 24. System 16 (e.g., an application server 50 in system 16)automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one or moreSQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information. Systemdata storage 24 may generate query plans to access the requested datafrom the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A “table” is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects according to some implementations. It should be understood that“table” and “object” may be used interchangeably herein. Each tablegenerally contains one or more data categories logically arranged ascolumns or fields in a viewable schema. Each row or record of a tablecontains an instance of data for each category defined by the fields.For example, a CRM database may include a table that describes acustomer with fields for basic contact information such as name,address, phone number, fax number, etc. Another table might describe apurchase order, including fields for information such as customer,product, sale price, date, etc. In some multi-tenant database systems,standard entity tables might be provided for use by all tenants. For CRMdatabase applications, such standard entities might include tables forcase, account, contact, lead, and opportunity data objects, eachcontaining pre-defined fields. It should be understood that the word“entity” may also be used interchangeably herein with “object” and“table”.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No.7,779,039, titled CUSTOM ENTITIES AND FIELDS IN A MULTI-TENANT DATABASESYSTEM, by Weissman et al., issued on Aug. 17, 2010, and herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes, teachessystems and methods for creating custom objects as well as customizingstandard objects in a multi-tenant database system. In certainimplementations, for example, all custom entity data rows are stored ina single multi-tenant physical table, which may contain multiple logicaltables per organization. It is transparent to customers that theirmultiple “tables” are in fact stored in one large table or that theirdata may be stored in the same table as the data of other customers.

FIG. 9A shows a system diagram of an example of architectural componentsof an on-demand database service environment 900, in accordance withsome implementations. A client machine located in the cloud 904,generally referring to one or more networks in combination, as describedherein, may communicate with the on-demand database service environmentvia one or more edge routers 908 and 912. A client machine can be any ofthe examples of user systems 12 described above. The edge routers maycommunicate with one or more core switches 920 and 924 via firewall 916.The core switches may communicate with a load balancer 928, which maydistribute server load over different pods, such as the pods 940 and944. The pods 940 and 944, which may each include one or more serversand/or other computing resources, may perform data processing and otheroperations used to provide on-demand services. Communication with thepods may be conducted via pod switches 932 and 936. Components of theon-demand database service environment may communicate with a databasestorage 956 via a database firewall 948 and a database switch 952.

As shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, accessing an on-demand database serviceenvironment may involve communications transmitted among a variety ofdifferent hardware and/or software components. Further, the on-demanddatabase service environment 900 is a simplified representation of anactual on-demand database service environment. For example, while onlyone or two devices of each type are shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, someimplementations of an on-demand database service environment may includeanywhere from one to many devices of each type. Also, the on-demanddatabase service environment need not include each device shown in FIGS.9A and 9B, or may include additional devices not shown in FIGS. 9A and9B.

Moreover, one or more of the devices in the on-demand database serviceenvironment 900 may be implemented on the same physical device or ondifferent hardware. Some devices may be implemented using hardware or acombination of hardware and software. Thus, terms such as “dataprocessing apparatus,” “machine,” “server” and “device” as used hereinare not limited to a single hardware device, but rather include anyhardware and software configured to provide the described functionality.

The cloud 904 is intended to refer to a data network or combination ofdata networks, often including the Internet. Client machines located inthe cloud 904 may communicate with the on-demand database serviceenvironment to access services provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. For example, client machines may access theon-demand database service environment to retrieve, store, edit, and/orprocess information.

In some implementations, the edge routers 908 and 912 route packetsbetween the cloud 904 and other components of the on-demand databaseservice environment 900. The edge routers 908 and 912 may employ theBorder Gateway Protocol (BGP). The BGP is the core routing protocol ofthe Internet. The edge routers 908 and 912 may maintain a table of IPnetworks or ‘prefixes’, which designate network reachability amongautonomous systems on the Internet.

In one or more implementations, the firewall 916 may protect the innercomponents of the on-demand database service environment 900 fromInternet traffic. The firewall 916 may block, permit, or deny access tothe inner components of the on-demand database service environment 900based upon a set of rules and other criteria. The firewall 916 may actas one or more of a packet filter, an application gateway, a statefulfilter, a proxy server, or any other type of firewall.

In some implementations, the core switches 920 and 924 are high-capacityswitches that transfer packets within the on-demand database serviceenvironment 900. The core switches 920 and 924 may be configured asnetwork bridges that quickly route data between different componentswithin the on-demand database service environment. In someimplementations, the use of two or more core switches 920 and 924 mayprovide redundancy and/or reduced latency.

In some implementations, the pods 940 and 944 may perform the core dataprocessing and service functions provided by the on-demand databaseservice environment. Each pod may include various types of hardwareand/or software computing resources. An example of the pod architectureis discussed in greater detail with reference to FIG. 9B.

In some implementations, communication between the pods 940 and 944 maybe conducted via the pod switches 932 and 936. The pod switches 932 and936 may facilitate communication between the pods 940 and 944 and clientmachines located in the cloud 904, for example via core switches 920 and924. Also, the pod switches 932 and 936 may facilitate communicationbetween the pods 940 and 944 and the database storage 956.

In some implementations, the load balancer 928 may distribute workloadbetween the pods 940 and 944. Balancing the on-demand service requestsbetween the pods may assist in improving the use of resources,increasing throughput, reducing response times, and/or reducingoverhead. The load balancer 928 may include multilayer switches toanalyze and forward traffic.

In some implementations, access to the database storage 956 may beguarded by a database firewall 948. The database firewall 948 may act asa computer application firewall operating at the database applicationlayer of a protocol stack. The database firewall 948 may protect thedatabase storage 956 from application attacks such as structure querylanguage (SQL) injection, database rootkits, and unauthorizedinformation disclosure.

In some implementations, the database firewall 948 may include a hostusing one or more forms of reverse proxy services to proxy trafficbefore passing it to a gateway router. The database firewall 948 mayinspect the contents of database traffic and block certain content ordatabase requests. The database firewall 948 may work on the SQLapplication level atop the TCP/IP stack, managing applications'connection to the database or SQL management interfaces as well asintercepting and enforcing packets traveling to or from a databasenetwork or application interface.

In some implementations, communication with the database storage 956 maybe conducted via the database switch 952. The multi-tenant databasestorage 956 may include more than one hardware and/or softwarecomponents for handling database queries. Accordingly, the databaseswitch 952 may direct database queries transmitted by other componentsof the on-demand database service environment (e.g., the pods 940 and944) to the correct components within the database storage 956.

In some implementations, the database storage 956 is an on-demanddatabase system shared by many different organizations. The on-demanddatabase service may employ a multi-tenant approach, a virtualizedapproach, or any other type of database approach. On-demand databaseservices are discussed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9A and9B.

FIG. 9B shows a system diagram further illustrating an example ofarchitectural components of an on-demand database service environment,in accordance with some implementations. The pod 944 may be used torender services to a user of the on-demand database service environment900. In some implementations, each pod may include a variety of serversand/or other systems. The pod 944 includes one or more content batchservers 964, content search servers 968, query servers 982, file servers986, access control system (ACS) servers 980, batch servers 984, and appservers 988. Also, the pod 944 includes database instances 990, quickfile systems (QFS) 992, and indexers 994. In one or moreimplementations, some or all communication between the servers in thepod 944 may be transmitted via the switch 936.

In some implementations, the app servers 988 may include a hardwareand/or software framework dedicated to the execution of procedures(e.g., programs, routines, scripts) for supporting the construction ofapplications provided by the on-demand database service environment 900via the pod 944. In some implementations, the hardware and/or softwareframework of an app server 988 is configured to cause performance ofservices described herein, including performance of one or more of theoperations of methods described herein with reference to FIGS. 1-7. Inalternative implementations, two or more app servers 988 may be includedto cause such methods to be performed, or one or more other serversdescribed herein can be configured to cause part or all of the disclosedmethods to be performed.

The content batch servers 964 may handle requests internal to the pod.These requests may be long-running and/or not tied to a particularcustomer. For example, the content batch servers 964 may handle requestsrelated to log mining, cleanup work, and maintenance tasks.

The content search servers 968 may provide query and indexer functions.For example, the functions provided by the content search servers 968may allow users to search through content stored in the on-demanddatabase service environment.

The file servers 986 may manage requests for information stored in thefile storage 998. The file storage 998 may store information such asdocuments, images, and basic large objects (BLOBs). By managing requestsfor information using the file servers 986, the image footprint on thedatabase may be reduced.

The query servers 982 may be used to retrieve information from one ormore file systems. For example, the query system 982 may receiverequests for information from the app servers 988 and then transmitinformation queries to the NFS 996 located outside the pod.

The pod 944 may share a database instance 990 configured as amulti-tenant environment in which different organizations share accessto the same database. Additionally, services rendered by the pod 944 maycall upon various hardware and/or software resources. In someimplementations, the ACS servers 980 may control access to data,hardware resources, or software resources.

In some implementations, the batch servers 984 may process batch jobs,which are used to run tasks at specified times. Thus, the batch servers984 may transmit instructions to other servers, such as the app servers988, to trigger the batch jobs.

In some implementations, the QFS 992 may be an open source file systemavailable from Sun Microsystems® of Santa Clara, Calif. The QFS mayserve as a rapid-access file system for storing and accessinginformation available within the pod 944. The QFS 992 may support somevolume management capabilities, allowing many disks to be groupedtogether into a file system. File system metadata can be kept on aseparate set of disks, which may be useful for streaming applicationswhere long disk seeks cannot be tolerated. Thus, the QFS system maycommunicate with one or more content search servers 968 and/or indexers994 to identify, retrieve, move, and/or update data stored in thenetwork file systems 996 and/or other storage systems.

In some implementations, one or more query servers 982 may communicatewith the NFS 996 to retrieve and/or update information stored outside ofthe pod 944. The NFS 996 may allow servers located in the pod 944 toaccess information to access files over a network in a manner similar tohow local storage is accessed.

In some implementations, queries from the query servers 922 may betransmitted to the NFS 996 via the load balancer 928, which maydistribute resource requests over various resources available in theon-demand database service environment. The NFS 996 may also communicatewith the QFS 992 to update the information stored on the NFS 996 and/orto provide information to the QFS 992 for use by servers located withinthe pod 944.

In some implementations, the pod may include one or more databaseinstances 990. The database instance 990 may transmit information to theQFS 992. When information is transmitted to the QFS, it may be availablefor use by servers within the pod 944 without using an additionaldatabase call.

In some implementations, database information may be transmitted to theindexer 994. Indexer 994 may provide an index of information availablein the database 990 and/or QFS 992. The index information may beprovided to file servers 986 and/or the QFS 992.

Some but not all of the techniques described or referenced herein areimplemented as part of or in conjunction with a social networkingsystem, also referred to herein as a social network. Social networkingsystems have become a popular way to facilitate communication amongpeople, any of whom can be recognized as users of a social networkingsystem. One example of a social networking system is Chatter®, providedby salesforce.com, inc. of San Francisco, Calif. salesforce.com, inc. isa provider of social networking services, Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) services and other database management services, any ofwhich can be accessed and used in conjunction with the techniquesdisclosed herein in some implementations. These various services can beprovided in a cloud computing environment, for example, in the contextof a multi-tenant database system. Thus, the disclosed techniques can beimplemented without having to install software locally, that is, oncomputing devices of users interacting with services available throughthe cloud. While the disclosed implementations are often described withreference to Chatter®, those skilled in the art should understand thatthe disclosed techniques are neither limited to Chatter® nor to anyother services and systems provided by salesforce.com, inc. and can beimplemented in the context of various other database systems and/orsocial networking systems such as Facebook®, LinkedIn®, Twitter®,Google+®, Yammer® and Jive® by way of example only.

Some social networking systems can be implemented in various settings,including organizations. For instance, a social networking system can beimplemented to connect users within an enterprise such as a company orbusiness partnership, or a group of users within such an organization.For instance, Chatter® can be used by employee users in a division of abusiness organization to share data, communicate, and collaborate witheach other for various social purposes often involving the business ofthe organization. In the example of a multi-tenant database system, eachorganization or group within the organization can be a respective tenantof the system, as described in greater detail herein.

In some social networking systems, users can access one or more socialnetwork feeds, which include information updates presented as items orentries in the feed. Such a feed item can include a single informationupdate or a collection of individual information updates. A feed itemcan include various types of data including character-based data, audiodata, image data and/or video data. A social network feed can bedisplayed in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a display device suchas the display of a computing device as described herein. Theinformation updates can include various social network data from varioussources and can be stored in an on-demand database service environment.In some implementations, the disclosed methods, apparatus, systems, andcomputer-readable storage media may be configured or designed for use ina multi-tenant database environment.

In some implementations, a social networking system may allow a user tofollow data objects in the form of CRM records such as cases, accounts,or opportunities, in addition to following individual users and groupsof users. The “following” of a record stored in a database, as describedin greater detail herein, allows a user to track the progress of thatrecord when the user is subscribed to the record. Updates to the record,also referred to herein as changes to the record, are one type ofinformation update that can occur and be noted on a social network feedsuch as a record feed or a news feed of a user subscribed to the record.Examples of record updates include field changes in the record, updatesto the status of a record, as well as the creation of the record itself.Some records are publicly accessible, such that any user can follow therecord, while other records are private, for which appropriate securityclearance/permissions are a prerequisite to a user following the record.

Information updates can include various types of updates, which may ormay not be linked with a particular record. For example, informationupdates can be social media messages submitted by a user or canotherwise be generated in response to user actions or in response toevents. Examples of social media messages include: posts, comments,indications of a user's personal preferences such as “likes” and“dislikes”, updates to a user's status, uploaded files, anduser-submitted hyperlinks to social network data or other network datasuch as various documents and/or web pages on the Internet. Posts caninclude alpha-numeric or other character-based user inputs such aswords, phrases, statements, questions, emotional expressions, and/orsymbols. Comments generally refer to responses to posts or to otherinformation updates, such as words, phrases, statements, answers,questions, and reactionary emotional expressions and/or symbols.Multimedia data can be included in, linked with, or attached to a postor comment. For example, a post can include textual statements incombination with a JPEG image or animated image. A like or dislike canbe submitted in response to a particular post or comment. Examples ofuploaded files include presentations, documents, multimedia files, andthe like.

Users can follow a record by subscribing to the record, as mentionedabove. Users can also follow other entities such as other types of dataobjects, other users, and groups of users. Feed tracked updatesregarding such entities are one type of information update that can bereceived and included in the user's news feed. Any number of users canfollow a particular entity and thus view information updates pertainingto that entity on the users' respective news feeds. In some socialnetworks, users may follow each other by establishing connections witheach other, sometimes referred to as “friending” one another. Byestablishing such a connection, one user may be able to see informationgenerated by, generated about, or otherwise associated with anotheruser. For instance, a first user may be able to see information postedby a second user to the second user's personal social network page. Oneimplementation of such a personal social network page is a user'sprofile page, for example, in the form of a web page representing theuser's profile. In one example, when the first user is following thesecond user, the first user's news feed can receive a post from thesecond user submitted to the second user's profile feed. A user'sprofile feed is also referred to herein as the user's “wall,” which isone example of a social network feed displayed on the user's profilepage.

In some implementations, a social network feed may be specific to agroup of users of a social networking system. For instance, a group ofusers may publish a news feed. Members of the group may view and post tothis group feed in accordance with a permissions configuration for thefeed and the group. Information updates in a group context can alsoinclude changes to group status information.

In some implementations, when data such as posts or comments input fromone or more users are submitted to a social network feed for aparticular user, group, object, or other construct within a socialnetworking system, an email notification or other type of networkcommunication may be transmitted to all users following the user, group,or object in addition to the inclusion of the data as a feed item in oneor more feeds, such as a user's profile feed, a news feed, or a recordfeed. In some social networking systems, the occurrence of such anotification is limited to the first instance of a published input,which may form part of a larger conversation. For instance, anotification may be transmitted for an initial post, but not forcomments on the post. In some other implementations, a separatenotification is transmitted for each such information update.

The term “multi-tenant database system” generally refers to thosesystems in which various elements of hardware and/or software of adatabase system may be shared by one or more customers. For example, agiven application server may simultaneously process requests for a greatnumber of customers, and a given database table may store rows of datasuch as feed items for a potentially much greater number of customers.

An example of a “user profile” or “user's profile” is a database objector set of objects configured to store and maintain data about a givenuser of a social networking system and/or database system. The data caninclude general information, such as name, title, phone number, a photo,a biographical summary, and a status, e.g., text describing what theuser is currently doing. As mentioned herein, the data can includesocial media messages created by other users. Where there are multipletenants, a user is typically associated with a particular tenant. Forexample, a user could be a salesperson of a company, which is a tenantof the database system that provides a database service.

The term “record” generally refers to a data entity having fields withvalues and stored in database system. An example of a record is aninstance of a data object created by a user of the database service, forexample, in the form of a CRM record about a particular (actual orpotential) business relationship or project. The record can have a datastructure defined by the database service (a standard object) or definedby a user (custom object). For example, a record can be for a businesspartner or potential business partner (e.g., a client, vendor,distributor, etc.) of the user, and can include information describingan entire company, subsidiaries, or contacts at the company. As anotherexample, a record can be a project that the user is working on, such asan opportunity (e.g., a possible sale) with an existing partner, or aproject that the user is trying to get. In one implementation of amulti-tenant database system, each record for the tenants has a uniqueidentifier stored in a common table. A record has data fields that aredefined by the structure of the object (e.g., fields of certain datatypes and purposes). A record can also have custom fields defined by auser. A field can be another record or include links thereto, therebyproviding a parent-child relationship between the records.

The terms “social network feed” and “feed” are used interchangeablyherein and generally refer to a combination (e.g., a list) of feed itemsor entries with various types of information and data. Such feed itemscan be stored and maintained in one or more database tables, e.g., asrows in the table(s), that can be accessed to retrieve relevantinformation to be presented as part of a displayed feed. The term “feeditem” (or feed element) generally refers to an item of information,which can be presented in the feed such as a post submitted by a user.Feed items of information about a user can be presented in a user'sprofile feed of the database, while feed items of information about arecord can be presented in a record feed in the database, by way ofexample. A profile feed and a record feed are examples of differenttypes of social network feeds. A second user following a first user anda record can receive the feed items associated with the first user andthe record for display in the second user's news feed, which is anothertype of social network feed. In some implementations, the feed itemsfrom any number of followed users and records can be combined into asingle social network feed of a particular user.

As examples, a feed item can be a social media message, such as auser-generated post of text data, and a feed tracked update to a recordor profile, such as a change to a field of the record. Feed trackedupdates are described in greater detail herein. A feed can be acombination of social media messages and feed tracked updates. Socialmedia messages include text created by a user, and may include otherdata as well. Examples of social media messages include posts, userstatus updates, and comments. Social media messages can be created for auser's profile or for a record. Posts can be created by various users,potentially any user, although some restrictions can be applied. As anexample, posts can be made to a wall section of a user's profile page(which can include a number of recent posts) or a section of a recordthat includes multiple posts. The posts can be organized inchronological order when displayed in a GUI, for instance, on the user'sprofile page, as part of the user's profile feed. In contrast to a post,a user status update changes a status of a user and can be made by thatuser or an administrator. A record can also have a status, the update ofwhich can be provided by an owner of the record or other users havingsuitable write access permissions to the record. The owner can be asingle user, multiple users, or a group.

In some implementations, a comment can be made on any feed item. In someimplementations, comments are organized as a list explicitly tied to aparticular feed tracked update, post, or status update. In someimplementations, comments may not be listed in the first layer (in ahierarchal sense) of feed items, but listed as a second layer branchingfrom a particular first layer feed item.

A “feed tracked update,” also referred to herein as a “feed update,” isone type of information update and generally refers to data representingan event. A feed tracked update can include text generated by thedatabase system in response to the event, to be provided as one or morefeed items for possible inclusion in one or more feeds. In oneimplementation, the data can initially be stored, and then the databasesystem can later use the data to create text for describing the event.Both the data and/or the text can be a feed tracked update, as usedherein. In various implementations, an event can be an update of arecord and/or can be triggered by a specific action by a user. Whichactions trigger an event can be configurable. Which events have feedtracked updates created and which feed updates are sent to which userscan also be configurable. Social media messages and other types of feedupdates can be stored as a field or child object of the record. Forexample, the feed can be stored as a child object of the record.

A “group” is generally a collection of users. In some implementations,the group may be defined as users with a same or similar attribute, orby membership. In some implementations, a “group feed”, also referred toherein as a “group news feed”, includes one or more feed items about anyuser in the group. In some implementations, the group feed also includesinformation updates and other feed items that are about the group as awhole, the group's purpose, the group's description, and group recordsand other objects stored in association with the group. Threads ofinformation updates including group record updates and social mediamessages, such as posts, comments, likes, etc., can define groupconversations and change over time.

An “entity feed” or “record feed” generally refers to a feed of feeditems about a particular record in the database. Such feed items caninclude feed tracked updates about changes to the record and posts madeby users about the record. An entity feed can be composed of any type offeed item. Such a feed can be displayed on a page such as a web pageassociated with the record, e.g., a home page of the record. As usedherein, a “profile feed” or “user's profile feed” generally refers to afeed of feed items about a particular user. In one example, the feeditems for a profile feed include posts and comments that other usersmake about or send to the particular user, and status updates made bythe particular user. Such a profile feed can be displayed on a pageassociated with the particular user. In another example, feed items in aprofile feed could include posts made by the particular user and feedtracked updates initiated based on actions of the particular user.

While some of the disclosed implementations may be described withreference to a system having an application server providing a front endfor an on-demand database service capable of supporting multipletenants, the disclosed implementations are not limited to multi-tenantdatabases nor deployment on application servers. Some implementationsmay be practiced using various database architectures such as ORACLE®,DB2® by IBM and the like without departing from the scope of theimplementations claimed.

It should be understood that some of the disclosed implementations canbe embodied in the form of control logic using hardware and/or computersoftware in a modular or integrated manner. Other ways and/or methodsare possible using hardware and a combination of hardware and software.

Any of the disclosed implementations may be embodied in various types ofhardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof. For example,some techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, at least in part,by computer-readable media that include program instructions, stateinformation, etc., for performing various services and operationsdescribed herein. Examples of program instructions include both machinecode, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-levelcode that may be executed by a computing device such as a server orother data processing apparatus using an interpreter. Examples ofcomputer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic mediasuch as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media suchas flash memory, compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD);magneto-optical media; and hardware devices specially configured tostore program instructions, such as read-only memory (“ROM”) devices andrandom access memory (“RAM”) devices. A computer-readable medium may beany combination of such storage devices.

Any of the operations and techniques described in this application maybe implemented as software code to be executed by a processor using anysuitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++ or Perlusing, for example, object-oriented techniques. The software code may bestored as a series of instructions or commands on a computer-readablemedium. Computer-readable media encoded with the software/program codemay be packaged with a compatible device or provided separately fromother devices (e.g., via Internet download). Any such computer-readablemedium may reside on or within a single computing device or an entirecomputer system, and may be among other computer-readable media within asystem or network. A computer system or computing device may include amonitor, printer, or other suitable display for providing any of theresults mentioned herein to a user.

While various implementations have been described herein, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, and notlimitation. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present applicationshould not be limited by any of the implementations described herein,but should be defined only in accordance with the following andlater-submitted claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for finding sites and tools with asearch, the system comprising: a database system implemented using aserver system, the database system configurable to cause: evaluating oneor more sites associated with an organization to identify a high-trafficlink; displaying a search box in a user interface; obtaining anindication of user input in the search box; generating, responsive tothe indication of user input, one or more suggested results based onprevious activity of a user, the one or more suggested resultscomprising one or more of: a file worked on by the user, a command usedby the user, or a person collaborated with by the user; displaying theone or more suggested results in the user interface; creating a shortcutfor a user-selected one of the one or more suggested results;associating the shortcut with the high-traffic link using one or moredata objects stored in a database; and providing the shortcut fordisplay in the user interface, the shortcut being user-selectable tocause display of data associated with the high-traffic link.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the evaluating is performed during anevaluation period.
 3. The system of claim 1, the generated one or moresuggested results being further based on content trending in theorganization.
 4. The system of claim 1, the database system furtherconfigurable to cause: updating the displayed one or more suggestedresults responsive to further user input in the search box.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the shortcut comprises a uniform resourcelocator (URL).
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the shortcut comprisesa bookmark.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the previous activity ofthe user comprises one or more of: a selection of a link, a completionof a field, a request to perform a search, a keystroke, a sequence ofkeystrokes, a change in a scroll position of the user interface, afinger gesture, a sequence of finger gestures, a mouse gesture, asequence of mouse gestures, or a change in a zoom level of the userinterface.
 8. A computer program product comprising program code capableof being executed by one or more processors when retrieved from anon-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code comprisinginstructions configurable to cause: evaluating one or more sitesassociated with an organization to identify a high-traffic link;displaying a search box in a user interface; obtaining an indication ofuser input in the search box; generating, responsive to the indicationof user input, one or more suggested results based on previous activityof a user, the one or more suggested results comprising one or more of:a file worked on by the user, a command used by the user, or a personcollaborated with by the user; displaying the one or more suggestedresults in the user interface; creating a shortcut for a user-selectedone of the one or more suggested results; associating the shortcut withthe high-traffic link using one or more data objects stored in adatabase; and providing the shortcut for display in the user interface,the shortcut being user-selectable to cause display of data associatedwith the high-traffic link.
 9. The computer program product of claim 8,wherein the evaluating is performed during an evaluation period.
 10. Thecomputer program product of claim 8, the generated one or more suggestedresults being further based on content trending in the organization. 11.The computer program product of claim 8, the instructions furtherconfigurable to cause: updating the displayed one or more suggestedresults responsive to further user input in the search box.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 8, wherein the shortcut comprises auniform resource locator (URL).
 13. The computer program product ofclaim 8, wherein the shortcut comprises a bookmark.
 14. The computerprogram product of claim 8, wherein the previous activity of the usercomprises one or more of: a selection of a link, a completion of afield, a request to perform a search, a keystroke, a sequence ofkeystrokes, a change in a scroll position of the user interface, afinger gesture, a sequence of finger gestures, a mouse gesture, asequence of mouse gestures, or a change in a zoom level of the userinterface.
 15. A computer-implemented method comprising: evaluating oneor more sites associated with an organization to identify a high-trafficlink; causing display of a search box in a user interface; obtaining anindication of user input in the search box; generating, responsive tothe indication of user input, one or more suggested results based onprevious activity of a user, the one or more suggested resultscomprising one or more of: a file worked on by the user, a command usedby the user, or a person collaborated with by the user; causing displayof the one or more suggested results in the user interface; creating ashortcut for a user-selected one of the one or more suggested results;associating the shortcut with the high-traffic link using one or moredata objects stored in a database; and providing the shortcut fordisplay in the user interface, the shortcut being user-selectable tocause display of data associated with the high-traffic link.
 16. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the evaluating isperformed during an evaluation period.
 17. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 15, the generated one or more suggested results beingfurther based on content trending in the organization.
 18. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising: updatingthe displayed one or more suggested results responsive to further userinput in the search box.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim15, wherein the shortcut comprises a uniform resource locator (URL). 20.The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the shortcutcomprises a bookmark.